NAGAFF Writes Finance Minister On Webb Fontaine’s Inefficiencies

• mulls new strike action if deliberations fail

By Kenneth Jukpor

The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) could embark on a new strike action next week as gross inefficiencies of Webb Fontaine has led to huge fiscal losses by importers and their freight agents utilizing the digital platforms of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

Webb Fontaine, as the managers of Customs digital platforms, are responsible for the provision of IT & telecom infrastructure for Nigeria. This encompasses the delivery of Customs Management System nationwide via the Nigeria Customs Integrated System (NICIS II)

Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko, National Chairman of NAGAFF’s 100% Compliance Team revealed this yesterday while engaging journalists in Lagos.

Tanko said that investigations on the NCS technical partner, Webb Fontaine, showed that the Dubai-based company operates a seamless and hitch-free process in Dubai but subjects Nigerians to gross inefficiencies.

Highlighting some of the problems, Tanko said; “Their system failure is outrageous. The network failure may last for more than four days at a stretch leaving freight forwarders with huge backlog of demurrage running into millions of naira. Imagine the quantum of losses incurred by thousands of containers trapped by the downtime at most of the ports and terminals. Even the banks cannot transmit information about duties collected on behalf of the federal government.”

Webb Fontaine was supposed to provide a single window solutions connecting all stakeholders involved in foreign trade allowing them perform from pre-clearance to post-clearance activities, however, the company’s service has been poor.

Meanwhile, NAGAFF has written to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed in a letter titled, “WEBB FONTAINE’S INEFFICIENCY: OUR PAINFUL EXPERIENCE AND LOSS OF MILLIONS OF NAIRA BY FREIGHT FORWARDERS”

The letter contained a narrative of the anguish and fiscal losses as a result of the company contracted to provide technology infrastructure to the Nigeria Customs Service.

Noting that the company’s failure also affects government revenue, NAGAFF added that the situation is more appalling when a visit to Webb Fontaine’s headquarters in Media City, Dubai showed its world class efficiency in Dubai.

“They have a system that is seamless in Dubai. Why are we inundated with outdated infrastructure and software in Nigeria? Our experience during the visit to Dubai is what we expect here in Nigeria. How do we recoup our monumental losses? Who pays us back? With all these failures over the years, we have never heard any form of explanation, talk less of apologies from Webb Fontaine. The arrogance of their staff reeks of abusive impunity,” Tanko said.

While the group implored the Finance Minister to critically investigate and re-examine the process of Webb Fontaine operations; a three year old firm as at the time they won the service-provider contract, NAGAFF warned that it may decide to embark on a strike action if no response is gotten one week after issuing the letter.